Planet Hell
by Once Upon A Star Trek
Summary: Regina gives her soul to the fury in 5x02 and goes to the Underworld, long before the heroes' adventure in 5B. TW for death and torture in later chapters.
1. The Price

"You're not taking him anywhere!", Regina shouted at the black creature that had Robin Hood in its clutches. Her fireball missed just slightly. The creature came charging at her and threw her into a tree. Her head hurt like hell, Regina hissed in pain. But she couldn't give up now, she had to save Robin. So she got up. "You wanna do this the hard way? Good. Because I love the hard way." Her hands erupted in flames, ready to destroy this beast, but the beast was faster. It lunged at her and catapulted her even harder against another tree, knocking her out for a few seconds. When Regina came to, it had taken Robin and disappeared. But Snow and the others had finally arrived. "Regina, are you okay?" "I'm alive if that's what you mean." Snow was worried. Regina had fluids come out of her nose, which didn't seem like blood. "Leroy, take her to the hospital." "No! I have to go after that thing. Robin…" "You have to let someone look at you." Regina tried so hard to be strong and to get up, but she was so dizzy and everything was spinning, so she gave in. "Go!" Leroy slowly helped her up and Regina leaned in heavily.

Once at the hospital, Dr. Whale led the former queen to a bed. He examined her head. "How bad is it?," she asked the doctor, who gave her a stern look. "Bad enough for you to stay here for a while. You have a severe concussion, and your brain is losing fluids. You're gonna stay here for at least 48 hours", the doctor said. But Regina couldn't just stay here while the others were trying to save her boyfriend. She had to do something. As soon as Whale was out of the room, she tried to sit up. Her stomach recoiled and she wanted to throw up from the dizziness. Using magic with a concussion was a bad idea. But she needed to find out what that thing was. So she used some magic to heal her injuries and magicked herself to Gold's shop, where she asked Belle to look it up.

It was a fury. A demon from the Underworld that had come to collect the unpaid price of magic. And apparently, its price was Robin. "The fury only comes when the price for magic is a life", Belle read. "It takes a soul to the Underworld in exchange. But the portal only opens at midnight, so there is still time." Regina looked outside, it was already dark. She was going to hurry to the lake, but Belle held her back. "The only way to stop it is to give it another life in return." Regina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she thanked Belle for her help and left for the lake.

"Stop!", Regina screamed as she ran past the knocked out rescue party and towards the fury that was sucking Robin's soul out of his body. She didn't hesitate when she screamed: "If you want a life, take mine!" The fury couldn't care less whose life it got, so it immediately let go of Robin. It turned to Regina and began sucking her soul out. The pain was overwhelming, it felt as if she was being pulled out of her own body. Which was actually true. Snow, David, Grumpy and Arthur could only watch her being pulled away. Her life force was being forcefully extracted from her core, it felt like being burned alive and freezing to death at the same time. When the fury was done after what felt like an eternity, Regina's body collapsed to the ground like a marionette whose strings had been cut off. The fury took her soul to the boat that brought it to the Underworld and the portal closed. Slowly, Robin opened his eyes. He sat up and looked around. He saw the love of his life laying there motionless and knew something was wrong. What had happened? He crawled over to her and touched her shoulder. He tried searching for a pulse, but found none. "Gina! Don't do this to me! No, no, no! Please!", he cried. David had gotten up and put a hand on his shoulder. Robin looked up to see David shake his head. No! This couldn't be! It just couldn't. "How… how could this happen?", he managed to ask. "She traded her life for yours." "Gina, no!" Robin cradled her limp body crying.

* * *

Hi everyone,

welcome to my next story. Hope you like it and R&R.

LG Ari


	2. The Underworld

Regina woke up and everything looked different. There was a red touch to everything, which gave the world around her a hellish atmosphere. The Underworld. The woman looked around to see tombstones everywhere. She was in a cemetery. She stood up and looked at the stone she had been leaning against. It read _Regina Mills_. So this was it then. This was going to be her home for a very long time. Regina knew that one could leave the Underworld and move on after dealing with one's unfinished business. And she knew that she had lots of that. She took another look around. Her stone was right next to her parents'. A tear ran down her cheek. She wanted to see her father and tell him how sorry she was, but she was too afraid to face him. She had killed him after all. She was the reason he was in this place. She was in fact the reason why a lot of people were down here. And she guessed a lot of them had unfinished business with her. She was scared. But she couldn't just sit here for eternity. So Regina took heart and decided to find other people.

She left the cemetery and was taken aback. This place looked so much like Storybrooke. Apart from the red touch and the destruction and death, it was exactly the same. Even the clock - which unlike its counterpart was broken and laying in the middle of the street - read 8:15. That was … odd. She had made a decision. She would find her father. "Look who it is", a voice pulled her from her train of thoughts. The blind witch. What a perfect start. "You know what, Regina? I have a little welcome gift for you." "And what would that be?", Regina asked warily. "An advice. Run. A lot of people would like me to serve your head for dinner." "Thank you… I guess." "Don't thank me yet. If I see you the next time, consider yourself a feast." Regina felt it was time to go. But where was she supposed to go? She opted for the forest. Not many people would want to go there.

The former queen sat down on a fallen tree and took in the smell of the forest. She missed Robin so much. Suddenly, she heard steps and looked up scared. She recognized her father. "Daddy?", she breathed. She got up and wanted to embrace him, when he froze and couldn't move. Then he disappeared and Cora stepped out from behind a tree. "Mother?" "Listen to me. You have to stay away from your father, it's important." "But why, mother…" "You can't see him again, or he will go to a place far worse than this." Cora disappeared into a smoke cloud and left a confused Regina behind. She was afraid of what her mother would do to her father. The Queen of Hearts might have been buried with her heart in her chest, but had that really changed her? She had to save him from her. But where were they? Cora could have brought them anywhere. Regina sank back onto the tree. What had gotten into her mother, she couldn't even tell her what was going on? "Oh daddy, where are you?", she whispered into the air. She got up and started wandering around. So, was she just supposed to stay here forever, far away from everybody else? A sound startled the woman. She was not alone. She sneaked through the forest, hoping she wouldn't meet whoever was there, when she saw the entrance to the mines. That would be a good place for her. So she went in. Deeper and deeper.

She turned around a corner and stopped. "Daddy?" She had found him. And he .. ran towards her. Both father and daughter teared up when they hugged. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you", Regina cried. "You were the only person who was always by my side and believed in me, no matter what I did. And I sent you to this place." "Oh Regina. It's okay", Henry Sr said. "Thank you, daddy." "I told you to stay away from Henry, Regina. Why couldn't you just listen?" Cora. "I couldn't let you hurt him, mother." Cora raised her hand to shoot a spell, but Regina placed herself between her parents. "Regina, please. I don't want to do this." "Then don't." Cora sent a spell her way, but Regina blocked it. "Don't you hurt him." Cora dropped her hand in defeat. "I warned you, but you're too stubborn. Well, I know where you got that from." "I'm so proud of you, my daughter. You finally broke free from your mother's influence. That was always what I regretted the most. Letting her get in the way of who you really are. But you've grown so much." Henry Sr smiled lovingly at his daughter. Then, a light blinded the three. A stairway appeared, that led into it. "What is this?", Regina asked, but Henry knew exactly what it was. "A better place. That's where I belong. I love you, Regina." He embraced her one last time, then he turned towards the light again. "Goodbye." He stepped onto the stairway to Mount Olympus and disappeared into the light. Both Regina and Cora stood there and watched the light fade out. A man appeared behind them. His head was burning with blue flames, his eyes were as cold as stone. "You two just made a terrible mistake. One which you will have to pay for. No one inflames Hades, the god of the Underworld." He directed an energy sphere at the women. Regina caught her mother's worried look before the two were dragged behind Hades by an invisible force. The tunnels were long and scary, eventually leading to a subterranean palace. Before they could ask what was going on, they were pushed into two neighboring cells separated by iron bars and passed out.


	3. The Hell

When Regina woke up, she was bound in chains. She couldn't move her hands, the shackles totally engulfed them. She pulled hard, but to no avail. She looked to the left to see her mother in the same chains. "I see you're both awake finally, that's good. Now the fun can begin." The man, Hades, stood in front of the cells. "What did we do to you?", Cora demanded to know. "Well, your daughter helped one of my subjects escape from my realm. And you failed to stop her." With the sheer force of his hand, he threw her against the wall. He picked up an iron lance and held it against her throat. He pressed it in, Cora's blood dripped to the ground. "Go on. Kill me", she challenged him. "Now where is the fun in that? I will agonize you as long as I want. When I am done with the two of you, you will wish you were in the purgatory fire." Regina tried to break the chains with her magic, but the shackles reflected every spell she tried. She felt weak. Her magic was almost non-existent. Hades caught her shocked gaze. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention. I drained your magic, just a little precaution. You two are going to keep me company for quite a while."

The next weeks were spent in agony. Hades had myriads of torture devices he loved to play with. He didn't even need to torture both, it was enough to make one woman cry in agony to make the other go through an emotional hell. One of his favorite things to do was restrain Regina and watch Cora being swallowed by her guilt at witnessing the trauma she had put her child through. Stabbing and cutting them with various sharp objects was another, both women could probably pass as pincushions by now. There was no opportunity to wash, so the blood just dried on their bodies, painting them a dark red. Sometimes he also had them hang from the ceiling by their shackles for eternity until their muscles were torn and shoulders dislocated. The hanging position was his favorite to apply his other torture techniques. Burning, whipping, skinning and in Regina's case raping them and then leaving them to hang for a while. "This is why I tried to keep you away from your father", Cora whispered one day, after he had left them to attend to other things that came with ruling a realm of the dead. "I knew you were his unfinished business and could help him move on, which is against Hades' rules. I was trying to protect you. I'm sorry I failed." "I understand, mother, it's alright", her daughter reassured her. "We will get out of here eventually, we just need to hold on." It was Regina's turn to do the motivation speech today; they took turns pulling each other up. They had bonded over their pain and finally, in the worst part of hell, formed a mother-daughter relationship.

It was one of those hanging days. Cora was dangling from the cell ceiling by her arms while Regina recovered from her recent beating on the floor, gasping for air. Looking up just in time, she barely managed to shout at Cora to close her eyes and mouth before their tormentor dumped still hot candle wax over the older woman's head. The scalding hot wax literally burned away her skin, making her scream out in agony so loud, she almost blew out her voice. Unable to look at her tortured mother anymore, Regina looked up at Hades, with her eyes full of fiery hate. He came closer to her. "You know what my problem with you is? You still have hope. And you inspire it in others. And if there's something I can't accept, it's hope. And I see it in your eyes. But not for much longer. He forced her head to turn towards Cora who was grunting in pain and writhing in her chains while a broken pitchfork with only two prongs left appeared in his hand. "Welcome to eternal darkness." He swung it and rammed it straight into Regina's eyes. A scream pierced the air, it took Regina a few moments to realize it was hers. The pain numbed all her senses. Hades grinned as he pulled the fork out and left the cells.

Regina found herself on the floor and panicked. What was going on, why was it so dark? Then it hit her again. She turned her head to all sides, desperately trying to orientate herself through her ears. But the only sound she could hear was the blood rushing through her head and her chains rattling with every move. She whimpered. "Regina?" It was Cora's voice. "It's okay, my dear." She turned in the direction where the voice had come from. "Mother?" Her mother's voice helped her regain composure partly. Until she heard a voice from behind her. "Regina? What is happening, who are you talking to?" She turned around. "Mother? But you…" If that's you, who is…" "Now that was fun, wasn't it?", she heard Hades' laughing voice from where she had thought was her mother. She gasped. So she hadn't just lost one of her senses, she also couldn't rely on another. What was she supposed to do now? She wanted to cry, but the only liquid that came out of her eyes was blood. Hades whistled happily. He was done tormenting the Mills women for today, they'd do the rest on their own.

"Regina, it's going to be alright. This too will end eventually. You are strong, my dear." "How do I know it's you?", Regina whispered. Unable to come up with anything better, she asked: "What did you tell me just before you died?" "That you would have been enough", Cora replied. Something told Regina that it was her. And if she wasn't, who cared? She wasn't going to get out of here, so she might as well take all the comfort she could get, even if it was fake. Regina followed the chains and crawled to the wall. She knew Cora's cell was to her left, so she turned that way. "Is there anything I can do to help you?", Cora asked. "Talk… talk to me. Tell me something, I don't care what. Just talk to me, so I know you're okay. I still have the image of you covered in all that wax burned into my brain and I can't unsee it. It's still haunting me", she cried. Cora started to talk. Since she couldn't think of anything else, she talked about her life in the Underworld before all of this. "It was … alright. Pretty normal town life. I was even the major of this … town. My office reminded me of you every single day. I kept it just like you had it up there. And I had a nice farmhouse at the edge. It was nice and quiet…" She went on about her house a little, until Regina interrupted her. "Zelena's house." Cora made a noise indicating confusion, so Regina elaborated. "I know that house, from Storybrooke. Up there, Zelena lives there. My sister." "You know each other?", Cora asked surprised. "Well, yes. She found me." "I'm so sorry I never said anything." Steps. They were coming closer. Both Mills women knew whose they were. "Let's talk about this later, okay?" One cell door opened and closed. Regina braced for intense pain, but it was her mother who screamed out. She felt helpless and it didn't stop. Hades steps faded away into the distance again, but Cora's cries didn't. The sounds and the image in her head were too much for her. She strained immensely and tried to find her strength again. She could feel the flame burning inside of her. Her hands erupted into fireballs that were reflected back at her. She grew stronger and stronger until the shackles broke with a loud noise and Regina collapsed to the floor. She immediately turned left to her mother who was slowly getting quieter. Regina concentrated until she heard a second noise of breaking chains. Then, both women vanished into thin air, only to reappear on the wooden floor of an apartment.

"You did it, Regina", Cora exclaimed proudly as she managed to get up. "But where are we?" She turned around to analyze her surroundings. It was a loft, but everything was covered under white sheets, as if it was uninhabited. Cora lifted the sheet from the bed and helped her daughter lay down. Caringly, she stroked her cheek. "So I guess we do have some magic, though very little. Let me help you." Her hands glew faintly and restored Regina's eyesight. Regina opened her eyes to see her mother smiling at her and tears of joy ran down her cheeks. The women hugged. Regina knew this place. It was the apartment of Snow and David, in Storybrooke at least. The question was, who lived down here? After looking around for a bit, Cora found a picture of the two. "I believe this is supposed to be Snow's and David's home when they die eventually", she concluded. "But until then, we could hide here. I'm sure Hades is not happy about us leaving."


	4. The Visitors

"You wanna go to hell?" Snow and David looked at Emma in disbelief. "The Underworld, to be precise. I will get Hook back", Emma retorted. "I have to do it." "Then we're going with you, you're gonna need our help down there", Snow decided. "Who said something about help?", Belle asked. A lot of people had heard them, what a great idea to discuss things like this out on the street. "We're going to bring back Hook", David said. "I'm in. You're going to need me", Belle said. That made them four. "Someone say Hook?" Smee joined them as well. Trying to calm the storm inside, Robin Hood leaned his face against a wall. He had heard the group talking about going to the Underworld. Why had he never thought of that, he could have gotten his Gina back! But no, instead of doing something, he had given in to his sorrow like the useless excuse of a soulmate he was. What kind of man was he?! "I will come with you as well", he said as he joined Emma and the rest. So, how are we gonna get down there?" "Gold. He can get us there. I made a deal with him, he's gonna open a portal for us. But we'll have to hurry because our way back will only be open for 24 hours." The six headed to the cemetery, where Gold was waiting for them. "So I see you've brought a whole volleyball team", he said. "Good luck." He opened the portal and everyone went through.

* * *

Regina and Cora Mills jumped up startled when they heard a noise at the door. So this was it. He had found them after all. The younger woman was about to grab a knife from the counter when the door opened to reveal Emma, David and Smee. "Emma?!", she exclaimed. "What are you...are you…?" "Dead?", the blonde finished the sentence. "No, we're just visiting." That calmed Regina a little. "David, I hope you don't mind us moving in at your place, we just didn't know where to go and I figured we wouldn't see you here for some years." "Oh, it's fine", the man grinned. The door opened a second time, Belle, Snow and Robin entered. "We didn't find him in the woods, have you had any …" Robin stopped. "Gina?!" Their hands found each other and they lost themselves in each other's eyes. All the pain was forgotten. Then Robin noticed the bruises, scars and wounds in his love's face. "Oh Gina, I'm so sorry. I should have been the one to die, not you." "Hey. It's okay. If I had the chance to go back, I would do it all over again." She embraced him with a smile.

"So, this is the man who stole your heart?", Cora asked from behind. "He didn't steal it, I gave it to him", her daughter smiled. "This is definitely not how I imagined that. Mother, this is Robin Hood. Robin, this is my mother." "Come here," Cora requested. Robin shrugged and walked over to his love's mother. "Would it hurt you not to kill him, mother?", Regina asked. "What makes you think I'd do that?", her mother replied dryly. She put a hand on Robin's shoulder and looked the thief in the eyes. "It might have been for only a short time. But you made my daughter happy and I will always be thankful for that." The lion tattoo on the man's arm caught her attention. Cora shook her head in joy and grinned at her daughter who nodded. Robin took Regina's hand.

"So, why are you actually here?", she asked. Emma replied: "We're here to save Killian. Have you seen him by any chance?" "No. Wait, he's down here? Sorry, we haven't been out much." The Mills women hadn't left the loft ever since they had gotten there a few days ago, fearing Hades might find them. "But I know something that might help you", Cora chimed in from behind. "We will help you find him."

"The graveyard? This is where we landed in this world." Emma was confused. Cora approached her. "The tombstones have a meaning. One that can help you find Hook. Standing means the person is here, in the Underworld. If the tombstone has fallen over, they have moved on. And if it's broken, they are in a place worse than this, the purgatory fire." Emma nodded. The group walked through the graveyard, trying to find the tombstone that read _Killian Jones_. "And what does a partly broken stone mean?", Belle asked. "I'd say it means that the person is close almost in purgatory, but not quite. A fate Hades has reserved for the souls he likes to torment." Cora looked up to the woman, who stood between the stones of the Mills women.

"Over here, I found him!", Smee shouted. They ran towards Hook's right hand and arrived at a tombstone as battered as the two they had just seen. "I think I know very well, where Hook is." Regina shivered. "Hades has him." Snow was confused. "Hades? The God of the Underworld?" "Yes." Regina's voice trembled. "He… he has a huge palace underground, where he likes to torture people. My mother and I… we were able to escape from there three days ago", she whispered. Robin put a hand on her shoulder. "Can you show us where that is?", Emma asked. Regina took a deep breath and nodded. "Are you sure you can do it?", Cora asked her worried. "I will do everything I can to help my friends." The women hugged in farewell, both knowing this undertaking was a suicide mission. "I'm so proud of the person you have become."


	5. The Rescue

Regina looked around the underground mine. It looked just like when she said goodbye to her father. "Yes. The tunnels begin here. Over there." She pointed to the right. "That way." They had been walking for a while, when Regina said: "From here, it's just this tunnel until the end. The cells are to the right. Hard to miss." Snow saw how uncomfortable she was and took her hand. "Thank you, Regina. I see how hard this is for you." They heard a roaring noise. "What the hell was that?", Smee asked. "I don't know, whatever it is, it must be new", Regina responded. The group continued on their way, into the direction where the noise had come from. They had just followed a turn, when they saw the source of the sound.

A huge three-headed dog was blocking the way. Cerberus, the hellhound. Snow regretted not having found Hercules, he could have finished that beast. "How are we supposed to get past this thing?", Robin asked. "Distract it", Belle simply said. "But with what? Music? Sing it to sleep?", David asked her. "No", Regina said and pointed behind him. "With this sword." David looked from the sword to the beast. "Is this a joke?" "No, it isn't. I'll distract it while you go through and save Hook." "But how do you think you can beat this thing?", Robin asked. "I don't need to beat it. I only have to keep it occupied for you to go in there, save Hook and come back." "No, you won't do that. I should be the one to fight him", Emma said, but Regina shook her head. "I'm already dead, Emma. Someone has to go back home to Henry, and we both know that's not me. Besides, I really don't want to go back in there. Now go. Don't you have a pirate to save?" She picked up the sword and Cerberus immediately faced her. "Go!" The group used their chance and ran past Cerberus.

Knowing fully well, that this would be her end, Regina swung the sword at one of Cerberus' heads. She swung it with all the power she had, but it didn't do anything to Cerberus. She could only hope Emma would hurry up. The other two heads came charging at her and let her fly against the wall. Regina tried to sit up. She was so dizzy and her head hurt like hell. She could see a dog head coming closer and closed her eyes in fear. She held up her right arm to shield her face. The next moment, she screamed in pain. She opened her eyes to see her arm laying a meter away from her on the ground. It was bitten off. She saw Cerberus coming back at her and rolled to the side just in time and stood up shakingly. The beast hit its head on the wall with such force that it made the whole tunnel shake. Rocks fell lose from the ceiling, one hit Regina's shoulder and sent her back to the ground. She picked up the sword with her left hand, she didn't know why. What was this thing for anyway? It didn't do anything to Cerberus after all. But it gave her a feeling of strength. She clutched it tighter. One of the heads shot rays of energy from its eyes, Regina held up the sword in front if her out of reflex. The ray was deflected. So that was the purpose of it!

Emma and the rest of the group ran through the rest of the tunnel. They could hear sounds from a fight and were worried. But they had to use the chance Regina was giving them. The tunnel ended and the group was impressed by Hades' palace. They turned right, it was not hard to find Hook. Breaking open the door and destroying his chains was very easy, Hades had probably not expected anyone to get past Cerberus. Speaking of which … They ran back where they had come from.

Cerberus came at Regina from the side. He knocked the sword out of her hands and sent it flying out of reach. Regina crawled backwards trying to reach for it, but instead of the sword, she only found her arm. She had an idea. "So I see you like arm. Look, I've got something for you!", she shouted. She swung it like a pendulum. And it seemed to work, she was actually hypnotizing Cerberus. She could beat him after all. When all three heads were still, Regina approached the first one. "Come over here", she directed it. The head followed her lead and wrapped around the second one. Regina grinned slightly. It was working. She repeated the same thing over and over again, until Cerberus' heads were a huge knot. But he woke out of his trance and aimed at her with all six of his eyes, Regina could barely dodge his attack. Then she had another idea. She placed herself between the three heads, which all turned to her. "Go on. Grill me!", she said. Cerberus would have done that anyway, he didn't need an invitation. Regina saw the beams coming at her. She ducked in the last second and did a jump roll to escape. Cerberus' heads destroyed each other.

The hellhound was dying. But he put up a hell of a fight. During his fall to the ground, he directed his beams at Regina and hit her straight in the chest. She collapsed with a scream. With what little strength she had left, the woman tried to push herself up, which was hard with only one arm. She looked up and saw Hades' grinning face. "Look who returned to visit me", he said. "Stupid witch. And you are killing my pet. How impolite." Regina howled in pain. "I know what you are doing. You're friends are not gonna get out of there alive." Regina shivered. She had failed them. She managed to turn around to Cerberus, who was still fighting to live. "What do you think you're doing, witch?", Hades taunted. "I will make sure my friends get out of here safely, if it's the last thing I do." With a new fire in her eyes, Regina stood up. "Hey! I'm still here!", she shouted weakly. The beast looked at her and directed another triple attack at her. But she ducked and the beams hit Hades in the chest. The God of the Underworld looked down at his torso to see a gaping hole. He collapsed and hit the ground at the same time as his pet Cerberus. Regina tried to catch her breath and push herself up, but she was too weak. "Regina!"

It was Robin, who ran to her. Meanwhile, David inspected Cerberus. Then his gaze fell on Hades, who was laying on the ground. "You not only killed Cerberus the hellhound, but also the God of the Underworld himself." "Bloody hell!", Hook muttered. "Let's get out of here", Emma suggested. "We don't have much time, the portal is our only chance to escape." "But how are we gonna get Hook out of here? He can't use the portal just like that, he needs a heart." "I might be able to help with that", Regina whispered weakly. "I could split your heart and give half to Hook. It worked with Snow and David. But I don't know if I'm strong enough." "Right now, you're in no condition to perform such strong magic", Emma said concerned. "But it's our only hope right now." "Let's go to that portal. If it doesn't work, at least you all won't be stuck here as well", Hook said.

When they arrived at the cemetery, the portal was still open. But not for long, their time was almost up. Robin carried the dying love of his life in his arms. He gently sat her down on the reddish grass. "Can you do it?", David asked. Regina nodded. But first, she loosely reattached her right arm so she could actually pull the heart apart. Just enough to regain movement. "We can take you with us. I can give you half of my heart", Robin said, but Regina shook her head. "I'm not strong enough for two heart splits. Emma, could you come down here?" The blonde kneeled in front of her and so did Killian. Regina didn't break eye contact with Robin. "I love you", she said as she pulled Emma's heart from her chest. She pulled it apart slowly, her hands slightly shaking. With her last breath, she pushed the two halves into Emma and Killian. Then she slowly sank to the ground, her eyes closed. Robin wanted to hold her, but David pulled him up. "We have to go, the portal is closing soon!" When the archer didn't react, David called for him louder: "Come on, we gotta go! She wouldn't want you to stay here." Robin reluctantly let David pull him back to the portal, never stopping to look at Regina. The last thing he saw before disappearing through the portal was her body dissolving into dust.


	6. The Return

Killian took in the colorful world and the fresh air. It was so good to be back. Robin had tears in his eyes. She had died to save those she cares about. For the second time! Why did life have to be so unfair? Belle looked over to him. She saw the look on his face, and she feared that losing the love of his life for the second time would break him. If he wasn't broken already. She went to hug him and comfort him and tell him it was gonna be okay. Robin was thankful for the comfort. He leaned into the hug. But when he looked over Belle's shoulder, he spotted something. A petite figure, laying on one of the graves. He pulled away and ran over to the person. As he got closer, he realized it was her. But how was that possible? He had seen her die! Regina slowly opened her eyes. She lifted her head and saw Robin running towards her. But how could that be? She had died. Twice! She had no idea what was going on, but when she was in Robin's arms, she didn't care. She was happy. Emma and the others also arrived. Neither had a clue what was going on. They were all confused, but also overjoyed over the return of their friend. Who cared about how they got her back?

At Granny's, a welcome home party was in full swing. A banner had been hung on the door and Granny had gone all out on the buffet and pretty decorations. Everyone in attendance had a good time, chattering away. After a while, Emma cleared her throat. "I don't wanna keep y'all from partying, but I wanted to say something. No matter what happens tomorrow, today is a happy day. We originally went to the Underworld to retrieve one friend." She lovingly took Killian's hand. "But we returned with two." She went over to hug Regina and smiled. "Thank you." "It's good to be back", the older woman replied.

Later at night, Regina couldn't sleep. After hours of restlessly tossing around in her bed, she decided to go outside and catch some fresh air. It was nice and fresh out there, Regina enjoyed the silence. She wandered through the town aimlessly, until she spotted someone. Upon approach, she saw it was Hook having a drink on a bench. "Sleepless night, huh?", he asked. She decided to join him. Then she looked into his scarred face, knowing fully well what he had been through. "I'm sorry." "For what?" Hook looked at her confused. "Everything Hades did to you." She swallowed. "My mother and I escaped from his dungeon, right before you were put in there. As far as I know Hades, he must have been furious and let it out on the next best person who was unlucky enough to cross his path, which happened to be you. If I had just stayed there, this wouldn't have happened to you." Hook looked at her in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? Everyone would want to flee from that hellhole. Don't apologize for making it! I owe you my life." He held up his rum bottle. "Want some, love?" She took it. "Guess I could use that right now." She took a sip, then raised the bottle to the pirate. "To home."

It was around 5am when sleep finally found Regina. She had exhausted herself enough by strolling through the town, that she practically fell into bed, where she was carried away in the arms of Morpheus. Literally, as the God of Dreams was taking her mind away.


	7. The Goddess

When the woman opened her eyes, she was greeted by Zeus himself. "Welcome to Mount Olympus, slayer of the hellhound and conqueror of the Hades." Regina was confused. "What am I doing here, what is going on?"

"I want to congratulate you and thank you for solving the threat of Hades for us. You have defeated the God of Death, which makes you his successor." Wait, what? Had she heard correctly? "Yes, you have heard correctly. You managed to kill the God of Death and are now the new Goddess of Death and Ruler of the Underworld." Oh wonderful, so she would be stuck down there after all. "You won't be stuck. Hades was exiled there because I stopped his heart. He couldn't leave. But your heart started beating again, when you gave someone else new life. You are alive and well, and able to cross over to your realm and back whenever you want. In fact, follow me. I will explain everything."

* * *

When Regina woke up, it was from the smell of coffee. "There you are, good morning my love", Robin said and gave her a kiss. "Now enjoy your breakfast, they probably didn't have any decent food down there?" "Well, Snow's and David's apartment was uninhabited and we couldn't really go out to a store…" "You're awake, mom, great!" Henry came running in. "You really needed the sleep, didn't you? Grandpa says, when you slept for a long time, then your body needed it." Regina chuckled. "My body has been resting for a long time, just my mind was busy." After doing the math, she had come to the conclusion that she had been in Hades' playroom for about four weeks. "I visited the underworld in my dream." "For what?", Robin exclaimed. "Well, I was at Mount Olympus first. Zeus informed me that killing Hades made me the new ruler of the Underworld. Then he took me down there to tell me about everything I need to know. I fixed some things and brought in some reforms. The Underworld is now a place where the dead can figure out their unfinished business and resolve it. And then I left my mother in charge as mayor during my absences." Robin was stunned. "Well, Your Grace, welcome back."

A few days later, Regina was settling back into her job as mayor of the original Storybrooke. Everything was perfect; there was just one more thing.

Zelena was not expecting her little sister to show up on her doorstep this early in the morning. "What are you doing here at this hour, sis?" "Would you like to get to know our mother?" The two went to the mayor's office and Regina headed to her desk. "I realize you two never got the chance to talk to each other, and I have just the way to do that. Mother is currently sitting in the mayor's office in the Underworld's version of Storybrooke, where I left her in charge while I'm up here. I established a phone line between both versions of this ancient telephone." She dialed a long number and handed the receiver to her sister. It beeped a few times, before the voice of Cora Mills rang through: "Hello, my dear." "Mother?" Regina left her some privacy and moved away from the desk. She smiled upon seeing her sister's tears of joy. When Zelena was done, she put down the phone and hugged her from behind. "I love you, little divine sis." "I love you too, big wicked sis." It was probably selfish, but her mother would be able to handle Underbrooke for a while longer, Regina decided. She would go back eventually, but not for quite some time.


End file.
